Rail passengers in Kent are being warned not to travel as they face major disruption today and Saturday as train drivers walk out again.

The RMT and TSSA trade unions strikes will see Southeastern run just 20% of its normal timetable on both days and all but 44 of 180 stations shut.

This is the latest stage of the ongoing dispute over pay and conditions by rail staff.

A 24-hour strike by Aslef took place last Saturday, coinciding with a busy weekend of summer events and football fixtures.

Reduced network operations will run between 7am and 7pm and Southeastern strongly advises to avoid taking trains unless absolutely necessary. The last trains back from London will be much earlier than usual.

Travellers are expected to face severe disruption, asked to plan ahead and check their entire journey.

All but 44 stations on Southeastern’s network will be closed, with only the London to Sevenoaks and London to Dartford lines remaining open, running a very limited service.

There will be no trains serving most of the county, including the Medway towns, Tonbridge, Maidstone, Thanet, Canterbury, Folkestone and Dover, with High Speed trains only running between London St Pancras and Ashford via Stratford and Ebbsfleet.

The Hastings line will not have any trains running, nor the branch lines including Sittingbourne to Sheppey, the Medway Valley Line and the Grove Park to Bromley North line.

No rail replacement buses or taxis will be available.

Only two trains will be running per hour between 7am and 7pm on lines such as Woolwich, Bexleyheath, Sidcup, and High Speed via Ashford (London to Ashford only). There won't be any service at other times.

The Grove Park line (London to Sevenoaks only) will have six trains per hour between 7am and 7pm, and no service at all other times.

The rail network informed passengers might be unable to board trains at stations with limited services, especially at Ashford and Ebbsfleet International.

Severe disruption on Friday morning is expected with no services running before 7am and the first trains expected to be busy, with queuing systems to be put in place to manage space.

There will also be strike action affecting the London Underground and Overground network, as well as bus services, on Friday. Visit the TFL website to find out more on Tube strikes and Southeastern website for more timetable details.

Alicia Andrews, Southeastern commercial director, said: "If a strike goes ahead there’ll be significant disruption to our services.

"The number of train services we will be able to run will be extremely limited and so we strongly advise our passengers to only travel by train if absolutely necessary, to replan their journey for another day or, to work from home if they can. We apologise for the obvious inconvenience this causes."

John Halsall, from Network Rail, said the agency was surprised by further strike action after they "proposed a decent offer" to unions during the latest discussions.

He said: "We're really confused as to what the RMT are trying to get out of further industrial action. We made a fair, decent, affordable offer to them of an 8% pay rise over two years, a guarantee of no compulsory redundancy, subsidised travel and a promise of no-change contracts.

"They didn't even put it to their members to check whether they wanted it, whether it was acceptable.

"So we're a bit perplexed as to what they're trying to achieve. We don't really know what they want."